Bring on real season; exhibitions mean little, provide few answers

When trying to make sense of a preseason almost over, I’m reminded of a Cowboys-Seahawks exhibition in 2005.

An NFL culture primer: The owners don’t like it when you call their preseason games “exhibitions,” which, of course, is why I like to do it. They’re trying to sell farce as the real deal. High schools don’t sell games that don’t count. Colleges, either. Only the NFL. If they could get away with it, they’d sell tickets to funerals.

Anyway, back in ’05, the Cowboys had this rookie who was so good, we could tell from the press box.

By the time the Cowboys called him off, DeMarcus Ware had a sack, two pressures, two forced fumbles, a fumble recovery and a diving interception. If Ware had played any longer, Seattle quarterbacks would have developed a stammer.

Yet here was Bill Parcells’ harrumph: “Don’t put him in Canton yet.”

At the time, we just chalked it up to Bill being Bill. Never give a rookie too much credit.

Never let a layman assume he can translate exhibition results, either.

As it turns out, Parcells didn’t want to draft Ware in the first place. The rest of us might have had a better handle on his potential at that.

Which brings us to this preseason, coming to a merciful end Wednesday against Miami.

One of the biggest problems in interpreting the results this summer is that the Cowboys had so many “incompletes.” So many players went down, the athletic training staff sent up flares.

Morris Claiborne, the much-ballyhooed sixth pick of the draft, finally got on the field after a long convalescence. He had a nice moment Saturday, batting away a St. Louis pass in the end zone. Granted, it was a small sampling, but, combined with the play of Brandon Carr, who had a good camp, the future bodes well for the Cowboys’ secondary.

You know this is true because no one’s talking about the secondary anymore. All the panic has centered instead on the receivers.

Losing Miles Austin and Dez Bryant was out of the Cowboys’ control, but also predictable. Neither remains healthy long, which is why Laurent Robinson is now making a nice living in Jacksonville. The Cowboys probably should have anticipated such a development, making the hunt for a third receiver more important than it would have been otherwise.

They decided to rely instead on talent at hand. This might have seemed like a bad idea until Saturday.

Dwayne Harris, a violent runner after the catch, caught a couple of touchdown passes against the Rams. Kevin Ogletree, too long a disappointment, whiffed on a pass Saturday but was otherwise clutch.

And Cole Beasley continued to be an improbable comeback story from his brief retirement in training camp.

Not to make too much of what Beasley’s done in the slot out of SMU, but he’s 1.) always open and 2.) always running with the ball.

The last receiver the Cowboys had like Beasley (short, white, played for a Texas university) was Danny Amendola. Because Amendola played for the same college team, Texas Tech, that Wes Welker did, fans and media naturally christened him the next Wes Welker. Which is more or less what he’s become. Just not here. He was Sam Bradford’s favorite receiver two years ago before an injury ruined last season.

Could Beasley develop into the same threat? His head coach, Jason Garrett, calls him “quarterback-friendly,” meaning he runs the right routes, comes back for the ball and finds the quarterback when he’s in trouble. Tony Romo would appreciate it, at least until Jason Witten’s spleen stops barking.

Otherwise, it didn’t prove to be a preseason to make any bold projections. The offensive line remains a question mark, maybe until next season. Romo must remain elusive and creative in the interim.

The Cowboys may not have found a DeMarcus Ware this preseason, but then they don’t come along often. Settle for the fact that it’s almost over. It’s a nice consolation prize.

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About Kevin Sherrington

Kevin Sherrington, a general sports columnist, was born in Dallas and grew up in Houston. He has worked at five newspapers in Texas. He has worked at The Dallas Morning News since 1985. He had no idea his career would come to blogging.